Paul O. Dillon, Attorney at Law

What Happens When a Pet Outlives Its Owner?

While leaving millions to a pet is a little extreme, regular people who love their dogs, cats, parrots and other companion animals are wise to make plans to protect their pets in case they become incapacitated or die before their pets. A recent article from MSN, “Things That Happen When a Pet Outlives Its Owner,” looks at what can happen to pets after their owners die.

If plans for the pet, including funding for care, aren’t made, there’s no way to be sure the pet will avoid the fate of many senior animals: an animal shelter. Making matters worse, senior dogs have a lower adoption rate, putting them at risk of remaining at the shelter for the rest of their lives or being euthanized.

If your family loves animals, or you have close friends who are animal people, your pet might get lucky and be adopted by a family member or friend. However, this doesn’t always work out. Even well-meaning friends may have allergies or a lifestyle that conflicts with having a pet. There may also be behavior problems because the pet is grieving the loss of their owner in a new environment, and it may become difficult for the friend or family member to take care of.

Clear instructions about the care of your pet and money to provide for their food, veterinary bills and other costs need to be set down in a legally enforceable document if your pet is to avoid being passed like a hot potato from person to person or to end up in a cage in a shelter.

Pets are considered property, so you can’t leave money directly to them. You could name a caretaker in your will and leave them a certain amount of money to care for the pet. However, the will may not be enforceable. They may use the money for other things while your dog is neglected.

If you don’t name a caretaker, the court may decide where your pet will end up. This can delay the pet’s being placed into a home environment while decisions are being made. Even short shelter stays can be traumatic for animals that are used to living with people.

Exotic pets pose a different set of problems. A large bird with a 50-year lifespan needing a special diet and habitat will not be easy to rehome. A large tortoise with a 100-plus-year lifespan will probably end up living in an animal sanctuary if one can be found and if the sanctuary can afford to take on the cost and responsibility.

An estate planning attorney can create a pet trust in most states for several purposes. The pet trust should be funded with money for the pet's care. A trustee oversees the money, while a caretaker is named in the trust to have physical custody of the pet.

Some shelters, especially no-kill shelters, have arrangements where a donation is required to ensure lifetime care in a suitable environment. The donations often incorporate a Charitable Lead or Charitable Remainder Trust.

Planning for your pet’s future will provide peace of mind, knowing your beloved companion will have a happy life even when you aren’t there.

Reference: MSN (Jan. 30, 2025) “Things That Happen When a Pet Outlives Its Owner”

Keep Your Life Private with a Trust

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis signed a will in March 1994 after receiving a cancer diagnosis and died two months later. Her will is readily available on the internet since it becomes a public document when submitted for probate, according to an article from the American Legion, “Living Trusts vs. Wills.”

She remembered family members and friends in the will and also planned to make a large transfer to a Charitable Lead Trust. However, things didn’t work out the way she wanted. Her two children received her personal property and quickly put the items up for sale, netting $35 million. The rest of the estate was needed to pay taxes, and the CLT was never funded.

Bing Crosby, an American singer and celebrity, had a trust created for his estate plan. When his first wife died in 1952, she had a will transferring her separate and community property, which became public because of the probate process. After marrying again, Crosby created several trusts for his children from his first marriage, his new wife and the children from his second marriage. He wanted his privacy back.

There are many reasons to have a will. The will is used to name an executor for your estate, a guardian for minor children and express wishes for asset distribution. A last will and testament is a good starting point for an estate plan. If you are young and don’t have a lot of assets, a will may be all you need to distribute assets and plan for your children’s future.

As one moves through life and acquires property and perhaps wealth, it may be time to consider the use of trusts. Some people find a living or revocable trust to be the right solution. It allows the person creating the trust, the grantor, to retain complete control over the trust. You can change the terms, add and subtract beneficiaries and make changes whenever you want.

A living trust names a successor trustee. If you become incapacitated, the successor trustee can step in and manage the property owned by the trust. They can use the funds in the trust to pay for Long-Term Care or medical expenses.

If you own property in more than one state, a trust is an excellent means of avoiding having to go through probate in each state. With a living trust, your estate won’t have to go through multiple probate processes.

The privacy a trust offers can reduce the risk of someone contesting the estate. When a document about your property becomes public, distant relatives, creditors and thieves can connect the dots of your wealth and target your estate via litigation or scams.

Talk to your estate planning attorney about whether a trust is right for you and your family. If you do go forward with a trust, remember that the final step is to fund the trust. Don’t leave this out, or your trust won’t perform as planned.

Reference: American Legion (Jan. 15, 2025) “Living Trusts vs. Wills”

Is Charitable Giving Part of Your Estate Plan?

Legacy gifts and complex assets can be used in charitable giving to create a lasting impact for donors, heirs and the nonprofits they benefit, according to a recent article from Wealth Management, “Unlocking the Power of Complex Assets and Legacy Gifts in Philanthropy.”

Legacy donations, sometimes referred to as planned giving, involve gifting assets to a charity through trusts, wills, or beneficiary designations. These donations can be made during the donor’s lifetime, upon the donor’s passing, gifted all at once, or in a steady stream. Several trusts specifically allow for making donations, with Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRTs) and Charitable Lead Trusts (CLTs) among the most widely used.

An estate plan incorporating charitable giving should include educating family members about their own role in philanthropy. Creating a tradition of giving and service teaches the importance of compassion and social responsibility as part of the family’s legacy.

Legacy donations are often made through Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs). The estate planning attorney should discuss how donations are made to ensure that they align with the estate plan. Donations can be made annually, based on a percentage of the fund’s year-end balance, or structured according to the donor’s wishes.

Donating illiquid assets may yield greater benefits for a nonprofit than cash gifts. Nevertheless, some charities are reluctant to accept non-cash assets, since they may need to manage the assets and/or liquidate them. The DAF may provide a means of converting assets into cash for charitable giving.

A common gift to nonprofits is real estate property. The nonprofit may not have the money to maintain the property until it is sold, then sell the property. Instead of selling it and paying capital gains taxes (which will reduce the amount of money the charity receives), the donor can gift it to a DAF. The DAF facilitates the transfer, alleviating the nonprofit from the transactional work involved in real estate transactions.

Tax policy has recognized the social benefit of charitable giving for many years, acknowledging that donated assets aren’t income and shouldn’t be taxed. Legacy and complex asset gifts are not taxed as long as they are donated to charities recognized as 501(c)(3) organizations.

There have been some recent attempts to change the tax treatment of gifts, so an estate planning attorney should be consulted to ensure that all charitable giving falls within the current regulations and yields benefits for both donors and charity.

Reference: Wealth Management (Nov. 6, 2024) “Unlocking the Power of Complex Assets and Legacy Gifts in Philanthropy”

Charitable Giving Trusts Protect Assets and Create a Legacy of Giving

James Gandolfini was beloved for his role as Tony Soprano in the HBO show The Sopranos. His early death revealed a lack of estate planning and some painful lessons for his real-life family. Gandolfini left a $70 million estate and about 80% of it was not protected from estate taxes. A recent article from Investing Daily, “How to Avoid The Estate Planning Mistakes of James Gandolfini (aka Tony Soprano),” explains two of the many options Gandolfini didn’t take advantage of.

A Charitable Lead Trust, or CLT, serves several purposes. It provides a stream of income for a certain amount of time to a charitable organization. At the end of the period, the property in the trust goes to the donor or the beneficiary. When the gift is made under a CLT, the grantor immediately gets a federal income tax deduction equal to the present value of the future income stream. It should be noted that taxes do have to be paid every year by the donor on the value of the income interest paid to the charity.

You can create a CLT during your lifetime or establish it upon your death by stipulating it in your will. By establishing the CLT at death, an estate tax deduction is created. The CLT serves to reduce estate taxes and supports a charity you care about.

A similar trust is known as a Charitable Remainder Trust or CRUT. This type of trust increases the income stream while lowering taxes. With a CRUT, you are donating to charity.  However, you earn income from the donated assets during your lifetime. The objective is to sell a major appreciated asset without paying capital gains taxes on the profits. The donor funds the CRUT, and the charity receiving the asset is the charitable beneficiary. The charity must be an IRS-approved charity to gain these benefits.

The CRUT’s trustee can be the donor, the charity, an independent trust manager, or any person designed by the donor. Anyone receiving income from the asset under the terms of the CRUIT is known as an income beneficiary.

The trust document must name the trustee, the charitable beneficiary, the percentage to be paid to income beneficiaries and all the terms of the trust. The trust document also must specify the annual percentage paid by the donor, an amount between 5% and 50%. The annual percentage is required to give at least 10% of the amount transferred to the CRUT.

The trust can be funded with any kind of asset. The trustee then sells the assets, reinvesting the proceeds into a financial instrument owned by the trust. The term can be for the life of the donor or the life of a donor plus someone else. The CRUT can also be set by years, up to 20 years.

CRUTs and CLTs require the knowledge of an experienced estate planning attorney to be sure that they meet all the necessary guidelines to achieve their goals. For many people, these are excellent tools to create a family legacy of giving, while enjoying tax benefits and growing assets.

Reference: Investing Daily (Sep. 11, 2024) “How to Avoid The Estate Planning Mistakes of James Gandolfini (aka Tony Soprano)”

Estate Planning Answers for High-Income Families and Singles

You may never come close to Taylor Swift’s $92 million payday—and that was in 2022. And the CEO of JP Morgan Chase, Jaime Dimon, received a hefty $36 million in compensation in 2023. But there are some issues people with healthy incomes need to plan for, according to a recent article from mondaq, “Planning For Wealth: Lessons From Athletes, Entertainers, And Executives.”

This is especially relevant with the possible sunsetting of the historically high federal estate and gift tax exemptions created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. You’ll want to start using estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions before the law ends.

If you anticipate a large performance bonus, a profitable sale of a business, or a large award in a lawsuit in 2024, now is the time to get your estate planning underway.

In 2024, the estate and gift tax exemptions are $13.61 per person, as is the generation-skipping transfer tax. On January 1, 2026, the exemptions will be $5 million, plus the amount indexed for inflation. If this is a concern, you might consider giving a completed gift of the full exemption amount as soon as possible.

A dynasty trust could be a solution. You could name “future descendants” as the trust's beneficiaries, and if there are no children, name charities, siblings, or even parents as contingent beneficiaries.

A married person should speak with their estate planning attorney about the possibility of using Spousal Lifetime Access Trusts (SLATs) and Inter Vivos QTIP Trusts. These trusts allow indirect access to gifted access while utilizing exemptions.

What if $13.61 million is just a small portion of your wealth? An “incomplete gift plan” –a self-settled domestic asset protection trust—is an option. If exemptions increase by some chance, you can move assets from the self-settled trust to a dynasty trust. The “incomplete gift” self-settled trust is intact if the exemption goes down.

You might also want to consider using an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust, or ILIT, to create liquidity with life insurance used to pay for estate taxes. This is especially useful if your estate includes illiquid assets.

There are some strategies to adopt in case of a large liquidity event. A Charitable Lead Annuity Trust (CLAT) is a trust funded with a one-time transfer. Payments are made to a qualifying charity for a set number of years. At the end of the term, any remaining trust property is paid to the named beneficiaries.

Another trust to consider is a Flip Charitable Remainder Trust. A Flip CRUT is also funded with a one-time transfer, but the trust creator delays distributions until a set period of time or until a triggering event. Until the “flip,” the trust remains invested. When the grantor dies, the assets in the trust are distributed to the named charity.

High-income earners also need to be mindful to have their estate planning attorney prepare Power of Attorney and Health Care Power of Attorney documents so a trusted person can take charge of their finances and be involved in medical decisions in case of incapacity.

Reference: mondaq (Aug. 2, 2024) “Planning For Wealth: Lessons From Athletes, Entertainers, And Executives”

Do You Need to Worry About Estate Taxes in 2024?

There are many common misconceptions about estate taxes when a person dies. First, any amounts left to spouses are tax-free. As reported in the article “Attorney At Law: What you should know about estate taxes” from TBR Newsmedia, any amounts above your state’s estate exemptions and the current federal estate tax exemption, which is $13,610,000, need estate planning.

Before considering these taxes, let’s clarify what makes up a taxable estate. All assets owned by an individual are counted towards their taxable estate, including IRAs, annuities, bank accounts, real estate and life insurance owned by the individual or for which the individual has the power to change the beneficiary.

Many states still have an estate tax, which often have far lower exemption levels than the current federal exemption. Your estate planning attorney will know what state estate or inheritance taxes your estate must address.

Many techniques are used to avoid estate taxes, including making tax-free annual gifts. In 2024, each individual may make tax-free annual gifts of up to $18,000 per person. These annual gifts can be used during your lifetime to bring the value of an estate under the threshold for state estate taxes and possibly even under federal estate taxes.

Charitable Remainder Trusts (CRT) or Charitable Lead Trusts (CLT) are used to reduce the size of an estate. A Charitable Lead Trust transfers property from your ownership to a trust set up to benefit a qualified 501(c)(3) nonprofit of your choice. The charity receives the income from the trust for a set period of years or the donor's life, after which time the remaining assets either go back to the donor or to their beneficiary.

The Charitable Remainder Trust is the opposite. In this trust, the grantor or another beneficiary receives income for life or a set period of years. The charity receives the remaining assets at the death of the last income beneficiary or the end of the term.

Anyone concerned with exceeding the federal exemption for federal estate tax needs to begin planning now, since the exemption will be dramatically reduced as of January 1, 2026, unless Congress acts.

An estate planning attorney is needed to guide you through the process.

Reference: TBR Newsmedia (March 8, 2024) “Attorney At Law: What you should know about estate taxes”

High Interest Rates Have an Impact on Estate Planning

The Section 7520 rate has been low for the past 15 years and presented many opportunities for good planning. What happens when inflation has returned and rates are moving up, asks a recent article titled “Estate Planning Techniques in a High—Interest—Rate Environment” from Bloomberg Tax.

The Section 7520 rate is the interest rate for a particular month as determined by the IRS. It is 120 percent of the applicable federal midterm rate (compounded annually) for the month in which the valuation date falls and rounded to the nearest two-tenths of a percent. It is used for actuarial planning, to discount the value of annuities, life estates and remainders to present value, and is revised monthly.

In January 2022, the 7520 rate was at 1.6%, but as interest rates increased, it shot up and in December 2022 was 5.2%. This was a 225% increase—unprecedented in the history of the 7520 rate. However, there are four key planning concepts which may make 2023 a little brighter for estate planning attorneys and their clients.

Higher inflation equals higher exemptions. Certain inflation adjusted exemptions and exclusions increased on January 1, 2023. The federal transfer tax exemption rose by $860,000 to $12.92 million, and the annual gift tax exclusion increased to $17,000 from $16,000 in 2022.

These increases give wealthy families the opportunity to make generous new gifts to family members without triggering any transfer taxes. Those who have fully used transfer tax exemptions may wish to consider making additional transfers.

Shift charitable giving to CRTs for higher interest rates. People who might have started Charitable Lead Trusts should instead look at Charitable Remainder Trusts. With both CLTs and CRTs, the value of the income and remainder interests are calculated using the 7520 rate. The key difference, for estate planning purposes, is the impact of a rising rate on the amount of the available charitable deduction.

The return of the QPRT. Qualified Personal Residence Trusts have been hibernating for years because of low interest rates. However, the time has come to return them to use for wealth transfer. A QPRT lets a person transfer a residence at a discounted value, while retaining the right to occupy the residence for a number of years. The 7520 rate is used to determine the value of the owner’s retained interest. The higher the rate, the more value retained by the owner and the smaller the amount of the taxable gift to the remainder beneficiaries, usually the owner’s children.

GRATs still have value. A Grantor Remainder Trust should still be considered in estate planning. A GRAT is more appealing in a low interest environment. However, a GRAT can still be useful when rates are rising. The success or failure of the GRAT usually depends on whether the assets transferred to the GRAT appreciate in value at a rate exceeding the 7520 rate, since the excess appreciation is transferred to the remainder beneficiaries gift tax-free. A GRAT can also be structured as a zeroed-out GRAT. This means that the transfer of assets to the GRAT doesn’t use any of the grantor’s transfer tax exemption or result in any gift tax due. This is still of value to a person who owns assets with significant growth potential, like securities likely to rebound quickly from depressed 2022 values.

Reference: Bloomberg Tax (Dec. 23, 2022) “Estate Planning Techniques in a High—Interest—Rate Environment”

What Happens When Gift and Estate Tax Exemptions Change?

The federal lifetime gift and estate tax exclusion will increase for inflation in 2023 to $12.93 million.  There may be similar increases for inflation in 2024 and 2025, according to a recent article from Think Advisor titled “The Estate and Gift Tax Exclusion Shrinks in 2026. What’s an Advisor to Do?”

This is the good news for wealthy Americans. However, there’s bad news in the near future. Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, these historically high levels will end on December 31, 2025. Estate and gift exclusions will drop to the pre-2017 level of $five million, adjusted for inflation. Estimates for 2026 vary, but most expect the amount may reach $6.8 million per person.

For Americans who saw the value of their homes and portfolios increase in the last ten years, this level becomes uncomfortably close when considering the overall value of their estate. Here’s some help on how to minimize estate taxes in coming years.

What is the Estate and Gift Tax Exclusion in 2023?

Every year the annual estate and gift tax exclusion is adjusted for inflation. Gifts at or below this amount are not counted towards your lifetime exemption. For example, in 2022, the annual exclusion was $16,000 and in 2023, it is $17,000.

If you haven’t made any gifts to remove assets from your estate before 2026, your lifetime gift and estate tax exemption will revert to 2026 levels. If you made gifts prior to 2026, several different scenarios may apply.

If the amount of your gift was less than the exemption amount in place in 2026 or beyond, your remaining exclusion will be the amount of the exemption minus the amount of your lifetime gifts. Let’s say the exclusion is $6.8 million and you’ve given $3 million in lifetime gifts. The remaining exclusion would be $3.8 million. Any gifts over this amount would be subject to estate taxes.

If the amount of your gifts before 2026 exceeded the limit in place, the exemptions from the old limits will apply to those gifts. However, there won’t be any additional exemptions. Here’s an example: if you made $9 million in gifts before 2026, this would be your exemption amount upon your death. There would be no additional exemption for 2026 or beyond, unless the inflation-adjusted exemption exceeded $9 million in the future.

To be blunt, the higher exemption amounts in place are “use it or lose it.” Any difference between the higher exemption amounts and the post-2025 reduced amounts will be lost if not used. Any gifts made in excess of the higher exemptions in place before 2026 will still fall under the higher exemption upon death.

There are steps to be taken to reduce your taxable estate and make the most of the current limits. Which steps to take depends on the size of the estate, the nature of heirs, marital status, health status and other factors.

One strategy is to spend down assets. Take the big vacations, travel to out of town sporting events, enjoy the wealth you worked so hard to accumulate. This lifestyle can add up over time and fit in with an overall plan of minimizing your taxable estate.

Gifting to charity is another excellent way to reduce the size of a taxable estate while building a legacy. Current-year gifts of cash appreciated securities and other assets can provide a tax deduction to also reduce current year income taxes. Speak with your estate planning attorney about using a Donor Advised Fund, Charitable Lead Trust, or Charitable Remainder Trust.

If you are married, assets left to a surviving spouse have no estate tax consequences, except for a non-citizen spouse, who may not benefit from the unlimited marital deduction rules. One option is for the surviving spouse to elect to take the decedent spouse’s unused lifetime exclusion.

Reference: Think Advisor (Dec. 7, 2022) “The Estate and Gift Tax Exclusion Shrinks in 2026. What’s an Advisor to Do?”

What’s Is the Best Way to Give to Charity?

Charitable giving plays a valuable role in estate and tax planning. A well-planned donation can also provide a healthy income tax deduction, along with a reduction of estate taxes. Your generous donation could help to maintain financial security, exert control over assets during life and after death and provide for heirs, as explained in a recent article titled “Charitable giving good for heart, 1040” from the Valdosta Daily Times.

To accomplish any of these objectives, you’ll want to work with an experienced estate planning attorney who can help tailor an estate plan to your individual circumstances. Here are some strategies to consider.

Gifts of appreciated property might allow you to avoid capital gains tax owed when the asset is sold and, if planned properly, might allow you to receive an income tax deduction, usually worth the fair market value of the asset.

Removing any assets from your estate reduces the potential estate tax liability.

If you want to make a donation to a charity but you’d like to maintain some control over it, a Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT) might be a good fit. A CRT works best when funded by an appreciated asset, such as real estate or stock in a family owned business.

Once the property is transferred to the CRT, the CRT can sell the appreciated assets it holds without paying capital gains taxes. It then continues to provide income generated by the CRT to the beneficiaries for a period of time, as instructed by the CRT. At the end of this period, the remainder of the CRT is donated to the charity. You avoid capital gains on the assets you donated, an income stream and you also receive a tax deduction.

Another strategy is to use a Charitable Lead Trust or CLT. With a CLT, you give the charity the use of the asset and the right to any income generated for a predetermined time. When the time period ends, the asset reverts to you or is given to whoever you designate in the CLT. Appropriate assets for a CLT could be income-producing stocks and bonds, a valued collection or a painting transferred to a museum for a certain period of time.

You likely receive a current income tax deduction for the value to the charity. However, you receive no other direct benefit during the term. If a CLT is created upon your death, estate tax liability could be reduced.

Early tax planning can help make the most of any charitable giving opportunities and let you take full advantage of any additional benefits. Talk with an experienced estate planning attorney to receive guidance appropriate to your unique situation.

Reference: Valdosta Daily Times (Dec. 4, 2022) “Charitable giving good for heart, 1040”

How Does a Charitable Trust Help with Estate Planning?

Simply put, a charitable trust holds assets and distributes assets to charitable organizations. The person who creates the trust, the grantor, decides how the trust will manage and invest assets, as well as how and when donations are made, as described in the article “How a Charitable Trust Works” from yahoo! finance. An experienced estate planning attorney can help you create a charitable trust to achieve your estate planning goals and create tax-savings opportunities.

Any trust is a legal entity, legally separate from you, even if you are the grantor and a trustee. The trust owns its assets, pays taxes and requires management. The charitable trust is created with the specific goal of charitable giving, during and after your lifetime. Many people use charitable trusts to create ongoing gifts, since this type of trust grows and continues to make donations over extended periods of time.

Sometimes charitable trusts are used to manage real estate or other types of property. Let’s say you have a home you’d like to see used as a community resource after you die. A charitable trust would be set up and the home placed in it. Upon your death, the home would transfer to the charitable organization you’ve named in the trust. The terms of the trust will direct how the home is to be used. Bear in mind while this is possible, most charities prefer to receive cash or stock assets, rather than real estate.

The IRS defines a charitable trust as a non-exempt trust, where all of the unexpired interests are dedicated to one or more charitable purposes, and for which a charitable contribution deduction is allowed under a specific section of the Internal Revenue Code. The charitable trust is treated like a private foundation, unless it meets the requirements for one of the exclusions making it a public charity.

There are two main kinds of charitable trusts. One is a Charitable Remainder Trust, used mostly to make distributions to the grantor or other beneficiaries. After distributions are made, any remaining funds are donated to charity. The CRT may distribute its principal, income, or both. You could also set up a CRT to invest and manage money and distribute only earnings from the investments. A CRT can also be set up to distribute all holdings over time, eventually emptying all accounts. The CRT is typically used to distribute proceeds of investments to named beneficiaries, then distribute its principal to charity after a certain number of years.

The Charitable Lead Trust (CLT) distributes assets to charity for a defined amount of time, and at the end of the term, any remaining assets are distributed to beneficiaries. The grantor may be included as one of the trust’s beneficiaries, known as a “Reversionary Trust.”

All Charitable Trusts are irrevocable, so assets may not be taken back by the grantor. To qualify, the trust may only donate to charities recognized by the IRS.

An estate planning attorney will know how to structure the charitable trust to maximize its tax-savings potential. Depending upon how it is structured, a CT can also impact capital gains taxes.

Reference: yahoo! finance (Dec. 16, 2021) “How a Charitable Trust Works”